Acculturative stress and neighbourhood sociocultural context: the role of physiological dysregulation and consequences for psychological distress and well-being

Acculturative stressors are unpleasant events that can occur for individuals who have substantial engagement with multiple cultural groups, particularly in contexts where one group is subject to discrimination and othering. These stressors can occur at many layers of context from national laws to neighbourhood and interpersonal interactions. This thesis focussed on how neighbourhood and interpersonal acculturative stressors and resources relate to physiological dysfunction, psychological distress and well-being. Chapters 2 and 3 assessed ethnic density, which is the proportion of people who share your ethnicity in your local area. Low levels of ethnic density could indicate a higher prevalence of acculturative stressors for racialised minorities, whereas higher levels of ethnic density can provide sources of cultural affirmation, neighbourhood social cohesion and social support. Chapter 2 used data from the Health and Retirement Study, which is a longitudinal study of older adults in the US. Chapter 3 used a sample of adult ethnic minority respondents from the UK Household Longitudinal Study. Across both chapters there was evidence that higher ethnic density longitudinally predicted less psychological distress and better well-being for some groups. In each chapter several potential mediators of those associations were assessed, including social cohesion, social support, allostatic load, and discrimination. All those measures prospectively predicted the psychological outcomes, but there was little support for any of them acting as mediators. Chapter 4 assessed the associations between acculturative stress, physiological dysregulation, and psychological distress using primary data from first generation migrants living in England. Vagally-mediated Heart Rate Variability (vmHRV) reactivity was measured to capture physiological responses to stressor tasks. Both acculturative stress and vmHRV reactivity were found to predict concurrent psychological distress.